Dani Parejo scored in the second half to give Villarreal a fighting chance in the second leg as they held Juventus to a 1-1 draw in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

In their bid to have a positive result in the first leg, Juventus took the lead inside the first minute through Dusan Vlahovic who was making his first start in the competition after his January move from Fiorentina.

The Serb celebrated by making the ‘talking’ gesture with his hand, as if he was silencing the critics who had started up the doubts after firing blanks in Serie A against Atalanta and Torino, plus the Coppa Italia with Sassuolo.

The goal seems to have deterred the hosts in their bid to restore parity and after taking control of the game for the better part of the first half, they were undone by some poor decision making in the final third with Giovani Lo Celso and Arnaut Danjuma being the major threats to Juventus’ rearguard.

Capoue 🅰️
Parejo ⚽️#UCL pic.twitter.com/buG4xXGZjc

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 22, 2022

The hosts continued with their resilience in the second half and their efforts bore fruits in the 66th minute when Pajero restored parity after taking advantage of some catastrophic marking from the visitors.

Juventus will hope that the injury to Weston McKennie isn’t that serious ahead of the second leg set in Turin in a fortnight.